Wall Panel 08A Oak Blocks: pattern, size and acoustic gaps

Wall Panel 08A is one of the patterned acoustic panels in this range: HDF with a felt backing, in an oak finish, four panels per pack at 60 x 240 x 1.7cm, covering 5.76m² per pack. It is bought in and supplied as a pack rather than cut to a wall, so the planning happens before you order. Start with the photographs on the Wall Panel 08A Oak Blocks acoustic pack page.

The name and the description disagree, so check the photographs

This is worth saying plainly. The product name calls the panel Blocks. The supplier's description calls the design a mandala pattern. Those are not the same thing, and we are not going to guess which is right in a blog post. Go by the photographs on the product page, and if you need the exact geometry, the size of the repeat or the depth of the relief before you commit to a wall, ask us and we will get it confirmed. None of those three figures appears on the listing.

Setting out a patterned wall

A plain slat panel can start in a corner and nobody notices where it ends. A patterned one cannot. Three habits make the difference:

• Centre the pattern, do not start from a corner. Find the middle of the wall, set the first panel either side of the centre line, and let the cuts fall at both ends where they read as a margin rather than a mistake.
• Dry-lay the whole pack first. Lay all four panels out, check the pattern runs the way you expect from panel to panel, and decide the order before anything is fixed.
• Allow a spare panel on an awkward wall. A cut through a pattern cannot be moved once it is up.

Four panels at 60cm wide make a 2.4m run at the 240cm panel length, which is where the 5.76m² comes from. Divide your wall width in metres by 2.4 and round up. Read 240cm as the length and 1.7cm as the thickness, leaving 60cm as the face width, and have that confirmed before you cut.

What 1.7cm of thickness does to the room

This is a chunky panel next to the thin PVC boards in the same category, and the depth is part of the look. It also has consequences:

• Socket and switch faceplates need to come forward onto the finished face. Get an electrician to confirm the box depth.
• Door architraves and window reveals sit 1.7cm proud of the new wall surface. Decide whether the panel stops short or returns into the reveal.
• Skirting is either removed and refitted over the panel or scribed to. Choose at the planning stage.
• Anything fixed through the panel, from a shelf to a television bracket, needs a longer fixing and a solid substrate behind the felt.

The acoustic claim, and the figures the listing omits

The listing describes the panel as acoustic, on HDF with a felt backing, and says it absorbs sound. It gives no absorption coefficient, no NRC figure, no acoustic class and no test standard, and there is no fire classification either. For a home office or a snug where you want the room to sound softer, the panel is a finish that helps. For a studio, a meeting room or anywhere a specification has to be met on paper, ask us for the supplier's test data first and buy on that, not on the description. Nothing in the listing suggests this panel for a bathroom or a persistently damp room, and HDF with a felt face is not the material to gamble with there.

The named finishing piece is the Wall Panel PVC Trim Acoustic, sold separately. No fixing method is stated, so tell us whether you are fixing to plaster, plasterboard or batten.

The same panel in other finishes

This pattern runs through several finishes at the same size and coverage, which is the easiest way to change the mood of the wall without changing the geometry: Wall Panel 08T Walnut Blocks for something warmer and darker, Wall Panel 08D Dark Oak Blocks for a deeper oak, and Wall Panel 08F Grey Blocks where wood would fight with the floor. For a different pattern in the same felt-backed build, see Wall Panel 06A Oak Vertical. All of them are listed in Slat & Acoustic Panels.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. When the wall is measured, order the Wall Panel 08A Oak Blocks acoustic pack, or send us the dimensions and your questions about the pattern and we will answer both before you commit.